Stuart Tripp

Stuart Tripp

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Tripp
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1970-06-13) 13 June 1970 Traralgon, Victoria
Residence	Northcote, Victoria
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Cycling
Event(s)	Road Race Road Time Trial

Stuart Tripp (born 13 June 1970) is an Australian cyclist. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in cycling. He did not medal at the 2012 Games.

Personal

Tripp was born on 13 June 1970 in Traralgon, Victoria.^[1][2] His right leg was amputated following a 1994 car accident that had left him in a coma for several weeks after the initial accident.^[1][3] The accident happened when he was 23 years old and also resulted in both his legs being broken. Neither drugs nor alcohol were causes and his seatbelt helped save his life.^[3] Following his accident, he turned to alcohol and smoking cigarettes as a form of coping but he eventually stopped using both.^[3]

Tripp has competed in the New York City Marathon in the wheelchair class.^[4] As of 2012, he lives in Northcote, Victoria and works as a qualified plumber.^[1][5] He also visits schools where he acts as a motivational speaker for youngsters.^[3]

Cycling

Tripp is an H4 classified cyclist.^[1][2][6] He uses a hand cycle,^[3] and believes cycling helped save his life following his accident, taking up the sport on the recommendation of psychologist at a time when he was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.^[4]

Tripp participated in the Victorian event in the 2012 Australian National Handcycle Series. With a time of 21:04, he finished first in the H4 event.^[7] Stuart Tripp, Alex Welsh, and Kiwi Tiffiney Perry competed together as a team in a relay race at an Australian cycling event.^[8] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in cycling.^[1][2][5] He did not medal at the 2012 Games.^{[citation needed]}

References